Emmett Reenactment, 2014

I have so long looked forward to this particular event! It was very enjoyable, and the weather was perfect. Here are a couple pictures of the reenactment...

Camille, learning how to make a super cute rag doll....

Someone never fails to get several photos of me playing graces at every single event...

My Grace's partner, Ruby

Camille, quilting.

One of my favorite parts of the event was watching Camille and Ruby play with the hoops and sticks (what is that called, anyway?). They looked just like they stepped out of a BBC drama! There are better pictures of them playing somewhere, I'll post those in a while.

I figured out how to use a treadle sewing machine, which was cool. It also was very eye-opening to the frustrations of not hand sewing. Using a treadle may sound like fun, but it actually is hard and I think if I actually had to use one, my toes would be broken and bruised from kicking the machine and using very unladylike language.....

The hardest part of the sewing machine is getting it to go forward. When you start pedaling (oh, you know what I mean - what is that word anyway?) on the treadle, the needle goes backwards. To switch it to forward, you use the wheel on the side to flip the gears. But turning the wheel as fast as you can while pedaling is REALLY frustrating. The worst part is you don't want to stop in the middle of a seam, because then you have to re-start on the whole turning-the-wheel process. 

Historical Sew Fortnightly (or, er, Monthly)

Over at the Dreamstress website (who does amazing work and in-depth specific research), Ms. Oakes has been hosting what she calls a 'historical sew fortnightly'. It is a historical sewing challenge in which, every other week, a new theme is declared and you have two weeks to finish it.

This year, there has been some debate as to whether or not the Historical Sew Fortnightly will continue, it being a vast amount of work to the dear soul who hosts it.

HOWEVER, it has been announced that the Historical Sew Fortnightly will continue, but the title will be changed to 'Historical Sew Monthly', as the challenges will be once a month, giving one more time to complete each challenge.

Obviously, I could have directed you to her website instead of telling you all this myself, but as you can see, I am just a little excited about it. This will be my first year participating, and I'm hoping to branch out and make more interesting clothing items since I am nearly out of the 'completing my first undergarments' realm. Just that has taken forever, since I can't seem to buck up and just buy all the muslin I needed at once.